Now this is funny

Apparently now exercise in an exercise in "white supremacy".   I guess somebody had better warn all those wonderful black athletes out there about this.  With this logic, Jesse Owens wasn't a hero who destroyed Adolf Hitler's attempts to portray Germans as a "master race", but rather someone working to further enshrine Jim Crow.  I'm guessing this would have come as something of a surprise to him, to put it mildly.

Really, one has to wonder whether progressives really believe the things they say, or whether they're really Klansmen in disguise trying to get black people killed by worsening an already horrific rate of cardiac disease and diabetes.  The more I see out of these guys, the more that second hypothesis makes sense.

File under "collusion"

Apparently officials at the Centers for Disease Control removed statistics on defensive firearm use from public view after pressure from the Brady Campaign/Handgun Control/Violence Policy Center.   But don't worry, public officials aren't in the pocket of leftist interest groups, except they are, just like with the Twitter censorship files.

In related news, Transportation Secretary Peter Buttigieg did the nation a favor by going on maternity leave (again) during tense negotiations for rail union contracts.  Ordinarily, I'd be in favor of him, say, actually being on the job during a tense time like this, but given the condition of the streets of South Bend, maybe it's better he was sipping port instead.

Interesting bit of smuggling

Five Russian nationals (and two emigres) have been charged with arms smuggling into Russia, including about 375 pounds (thousands of rounds) of  what appears to be .338 lapua and 6.5mm Creedmoor sniper ammunition.   Now granted, these are two of the best long range rounds out there, but it's also worth noting that Creedmoor and Lapua ballistics are actually fairly comparable to that of the 30.06, a round which Russia has had access to for 80 years.  It's also worth noting that the Lapua was developed in the 1980s, and the Creedmoor in 2007.  There is really no rocket science to effective long range rounds, so it's telling that Russia desires to import this.

I don't know exactly what is going on here, but reports like this, as well as those suggesting that Russia was starting to use 40 year old artillery ammunition (have they never heard of "FIFO" in the Russian Army, use the old stuff first?), suggests that Russia has been dealing with some serious issues that are only now coming up.

Wouldn't like to be a Russian soldier in Ukraine, to put it mildly, with this kind of record.

Genius in administration

Secretary of Transportation Peter Buttigieg, tasked in part with nagging the rest of us to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to stop global warming, apparently is flying around in private jets.  As I've said more times than I care to count, I'll start taking global warming seriously when guys like Buttigieg do.  

Genius in legislation

Oregon's new gun control law apparently bans pretty much every weapon used by the police, and does not have an obvious exception for the police.   Oopsie.  Or maybe it's by intent to turn the whole state into a "Mad Max" kind of war zone?

No matter where you stand on guns and the Second Amendment,

...you've got to be scared at President Biden, who noted yesterday that he's trying to "limit the number of bullets in a cartridge."  Given that the number of bullets in a loaded cartridge is always 1, or possibly zero in the case of a "blank", the only thing that could be done by passing a law or regulation to "limit the number of bullets in a cartridge" would be to possibly ban shotgun shells, which are (along with other long guns like rifles) responsible for the fewest firearm murders, accidents, and suicides.

It's bad enough that our President does not apparently know what "shall not be infringed" means, but it's even worse that Biden doesn't even know basic terminology and facts about the debate.  If you want to reduce gun (and overdose) deaths, you stop allowing "big players" (including government) to bend markets to their whims, reduce barriers to effective mental health care, and finally you prosecute the "minor" gun crimes like straw purchases and illegal possession of a firearm.  

On the flip side, even if you completely banned assault weapons, and were completely effective and nobody substituted another weapon for an "assault weapon", you would save maybe a few hundred lives per year.  Let's go with what might work.

Brilliance in rhetoric

Putin's New Stalin's cook, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has "warned" the U.S. not to designate his "Wagner Group" as a terrorist organization because, apparently, organizations designated as terrorist organizations sometimes act like terrorist organizations.  Yes, I'm sure that it wasn't the desire to attack the U.S., but rather the shame at being called what they were and are, that inspired Al Qaida to attack the Twin Towers.

In related Stalinist news, Russian troops are being sent into battle with "stylish" uniforms (some designed by Raisa Gorbacheva, a.k.a. Mrs. Mikhail Gorbachev) and gear that is leading to.....Russian soldiers dying of hypothermia.  Writing as a guy who's camped at -20F while hunting (starting the day at about 0F), let's just say that it's not a good sign that Russian uniforms are not working when the nighttime mercury is getting to 20F in Kharkiv.  They have apparently taken lessons from the Wehrmacht instead of Tolstoy.  

(for reference, one of the blankets I used while camping at -20F was a Soviet surplus blanket....I'm guessing some of those poor guys would love to have that about right now)

Say what?

Navy spokesmen have admitted that none of the 18 midshipmen who asked for a religious exemption to the vaccine mandate received one, but that none of them are being denied a degree or a commission.  One has to wonder exactly what is meant by the requirement, then.  Perhaps they're just giving them horrible postings that are not desired?  Somehow I'm guessing that people are being "rather creative" in their public relations in Annapolis.

In other news, the U.S. is still in the World Cup, and Germany and Mexico are not.  Looks like the end times may be upon us.

A bit of help with moral clarity

Pro-Russian outlets have made a great deal of how Vatnika Putina tries to appear to be a "Christian traditionalist", but if one looks below the hood, one can get a much better idea of what's really going on.  You've got Soviet Russian tanks flying the old flag of the USSR, erection of statues of Lenin, establishment of "People's Republics" in Donbas, laws criminalizing free speech, and now, Putina is praising Fidel Castro, all while he's invading a sovereign nation that , if conquered, would expend the realm of Soviet Russian influence closer to the 1989 borders.

As Barack Obama infamously (and wrongly) claimed in his 2012 debate with Mitt Romney, the 1980s are calling, and they want their foreign policy back.  Except in this case, Putina really is a modern day Brezhnev, but with the huge advantage of neighbors that have, to a degree, forgotten the Cold War.

Thinking of sportsball

It was a sad weekend, as my favorite team, Michigan State, (expectedly) lost to Penn State, and my second favorite team, the team playing Michigan, also lost.   But that noted, something caught my eye.  Michigan players decided to "plant the flag" in the Buckeye, and  former Ohio State players were not exactly pleased.

Now as a former cross country runner, I'm not 100% up to speed on the sportsball politics of placing one's team's flag on the 50 yard line, but apparently it's obnoxious, and that brings to mind two other incidents involving the Michigan concussion-ball players; fights in the tunnel with opponents.

I'm not trying to excuse the Spartan players who tried to beat the snot out of some Wolverine opponents, mind you.  My thought is that at the end of a football game, physical superiority is pretty much decided, so trying to do this sort of thing is idiotic, and those who are convicted probably deserve what they get.  Players need to be reminded that you can quite literally throw away your future employability in five minutes or less.  Most of them are not going to the NFL, after all.

But that noted, this is the third such incident I've heard about this year, and I've got to wonder whether Harbaugh's team is going beyond the standard level of trash talking to get quite the reputation in the Big 10.  Maybe it's time for them to cool it before things really get out of hand.

And, of course, Go Boilermakers!  

Why I am a fundamentalist

Evangelicalism and fundamentalism have their problems, yes, but we at least are not (yet) envisioning the spear wound in Jesus' side as a vagina.  Nor are we arguing that Renaissance art constitutes Biblical exegesis.

Pro tip for those still in Episcopal/Church of England churches; if your vicar is open to preaching this kind of nonsense, what you do is to walk right out the door and walk down the street to a good, Bible-preaching evangelical church.  They do exist in England.

A hideous picture of a fashion house

Apparently the fashion house Balenciaga, not content to clothe its models in what can only charitably be described as overpriced hobo gear, has proceeded to promote its children's line with teddy bears in bondage attire.

They've apologized, but at a certain level, the thing that comes to mind is that this kind of thing, not to mention the clunky shoes and ill-fitting skirts, pants, and coats that are currently in Balenciaga's line, seems to indicate that the house just really doesn't like any of their customers.  There is little there that actually looks good on any of the models, and the general trend of the house is to ignore things like the "waist" of the wearer.

It's a pattern that seems to pervade houte couture--between the "heroin chic" look of too many models, the hideous ways that their attire does not seem to fit the wearer, and more, one has to wonder what needs to change before fashion actually works for the wearer.  

Note; this was planned

Given that it takes a few days for Russian armed forces to prepare missiles for launch, it's almost certain that they planned their "response" to yesterday's Ukrainian refusal to consider peace talks, a launch of about 100 missiles predominantly aimed at key military targets like apartment buildings, power generation, and at least one town in eastern Poland.  Here's a map:unless you've got a much better eye than I do, I don't see any plausibly military targets within 20 miles.  Given that "wounded birds" don't fly well, I'm guessing this is a problem with the guidance system, not that Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles hit it.

Pro tip for Russia; if your missiles can't hit within 20 miles of the intended target, it's a war crime to launch them because it's indiscriminate attacks that will kill civilians, as tragically occurred today.  Time to send your generals to Den Haag for trial.  And their boss, of course.  Putina delenda est!

Update: it turns out that the missile was a S-300 fired by Ukraine to intercept incoming Russian drones and missiles.  But that noted, you don't blame the defender when his defense measures go awry; you blame the country that launched missiles at the defender.

Well, that's interesting....

Apparently in New Hampshire, a young transgender man who's got to be pushing 300lbs  has won a beauty pageant.  Even apart from the propriety of young men participating in beauty pageants for women, didn't beauty pageants used to be about....beauty?  Unless there is huge demand out there for what will soon resemble "drag" shows, I'm guessing this pageant is going to destroy its own clientele.

(side note; I am one who is not terribly impressed by the body types favored for most beauty pageants, and would agree that more realistic body types ought to be represented....but that said, more realistic body types for a woman ought to be respresented, ahem)

Brutal, brutal sanctions

The Daily Record claims that Russia is working to secure imports of a vital commodity--Scotch Whisky-- I would guess because domestic supplies of spirits cannot keep up.  That's wild, because even during the Soviet years, they generally managed to make enough vodka to keep the BWC (blood water content) of thirsty Russians down.